All News articles – Page 387
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News
Wiring foreshadows spending
SPENDING on infrastructure modernisation in France looks set to rise with a government statement in late November that Fr8·7bn will be allocated to rail during the period 2000-06 under ’contracts’ agreed with the regions. Among projects due to get under way this year is a two-stage modernisation of the 385 ...
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Finance
Argentina: As part of a debt restructuring programme, Grupo Soldati was expected to sell its Tren de la Costa light rail operation in Buenos Aires for US$100m. The line carried 441000 passengers between May and August last year, down 40% from the 742000 passengers carried in the same period in ...
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Russians reaffirm faith in rail
Addressing the ’Congress of Transport on the Threshold of the New Century’ in Moscow on December 6, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin went to some trouble to assure delegates that the national rail network ’is and will remain the backbone of Russia’s transport system’. He told them that to prevent ...
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Marseille tram extensions
Marseille city council was due to consider at the end of December a new urban transport plan incorporating up to 25 km of new light rail routes and extensions to the city’s metro system. On November 29 councillors voted to begin public consultation on modernising RTM’s 3 km Noailles - ...
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High speed Talgo debuts
Patentes Talgo and Adtranz announced on November 22 that their 350 km/h protoype trainset will be completed in February. Talgo CEO Francisco de Lorenzo said that ’Spain now has its own high speed design’, the fruit of a Pts6bn investment by the company. Designed as a contender for the Madrid ...
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Hillside EMU deal signed
VIVENDI-backed consortium Melbourne Transportation Enterprises confirmed on November 22 that it had awarded a contract to Alstom Transport to provide 58 new three-car EMUs for its Hillside Trains suburban franchise in the Victorian capital. Under the 900m euros package, Alstom will also refurbish 45 existing EMUs, and maintain the entire ...
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Crash test
SAFETY experts gathered at the Pueblo premises of Transportation Technology Center Inc on November 18 to witness a collision between a former Septa Budd Silverliner car and a concrete wall. The impact occurred at a speed of 56 km/h.Inside the vehicle were specially instrumented seats of different designs populated by ...
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Corridor progress
The Spanish cabinet has given its approval for contracts to be let for double-tracking 18 km between Vandellós and Tarragona, as part of the Mediterranean Corridor programme to cut the Valencia - Barcelona journey time to 2h 15min. Work includes a 1780m tunnel and a new station to serve Vandellós ...
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Royal opening completes Nordic triple
INTRO: Inauguration of Arlanda Express on November 24 saw a third Scandinavian capital launch its airport rail link. Chris Jackson joined the celebrationsA CRISP blanket of snow coated the streets of Stockholm as the guests gathered to celebrate the long-awaited opening of the city’s airport rail link. Politicians, promoters, financiers, ...
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NJ Transit starts commuter renewal
NEW JERSEY Transit’s board has confirmed an order for 230 push-pull commuter coaches valued at $233m. The first phase of a major re-equipment programme began on November 10 when Alstom Transportation Inc was selected to supply the Comet V fleet.The initial batch of 130 vehicles includes 50 driving cars and ...
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CD restructuring ratified
The Czech parliament passed a new Railway Act on November 4, paving the way for the transformation of Czech Railways into a shareholding company from April 1 2000. Drawn up by Transport Minister Antonín Peltr
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Passenger trains can be good business
INTRO: Carrying commuters and inter-city passengers as a profitable venture looked all but impossible 30 years ago, but several companies are committed to achieving it in this decade. Chris Green spelled out to Richard Hope the conditions for successBACK IN THE 1960s, when motorway construction was at full throttle throughout ...
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Nexus next as Broadway opens
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Transport Minister Lord Macdonald launched Manchester Metrolink light rail services to Broadway in Salford Quays on December 6. The first half of a 7 km extension to Eccles due to be completed next year, the Salford Quays line is being built by a consortium ...
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Private finance brings the DLR to Lewisham
On November 22 Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott opened the 4·2 km Lewisham extension of London’s Docklands Light Railway, built and financed by a private-sector consortium that will maintain it until 2021. Providing direct access to the City of London, offices around Canary Wharf, and tourist attractions in Greenwich, ...
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Boom time
Spectacular growth in passenger traffic is forcing Israel Railways to shop around for quick fixes to raise capacity. Since the launch of a new timetable last March offering more trains and shorter journey times, traffic has been growing steadily with 35% more trips made in the first 11 months of ...
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Painful birth of the intelligent railway
INTRO: Roland Heinisch, Director for Research & Technology at German Railway, is renowned for the number of innovative ideas he has introduced there. In this discussion with Murray Hughes he suggests that tomorrow’s railways will make far more effective use of IT to manage operations, safety and maintenanceTHERE was perhaps ...
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Berlin plans expansion and driverless running
MASSIVE expansion of the U-Bahn network has been proposed by the Berlin Senate. If the plans go ahead, nearly 32 km would be added to the present 143 km by 2025, with alignments reserved for a further 53 km after that.In the short term Line U5 will be extended by ...
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Rolling stock innovations will bring commercial benefits
INTRO: Reliable information, quiet, attractive interiors and better ride quality are among the expectations of tomorrow’s passengers. Technical innovations offer commercial benefits, but they will only succeed if they are supported by a robust business caseBYLINE: David RollinManaging Director, Interfleet Technology LtdWHAT BETTER time to take stock of the rail ...
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Belgians to run CFR upgrade
MODERNISATION of Romania’s principal east-west rail corridor over the next three years is to be managed by a consortium of Belgian high-speed line promoter TUC Rail SA and Brussels-based consultancy Transurb Consult. CFR SA General Manager Viorel Simut signed a US$9·2m technical assistance contract on November 16, together with TUC ...
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ECO backs Asian links
THROUGH freight and passenger trains between Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are due to start next year, with the backing of the Economic Co-operation Organisation which groups 10 Central Asian countries. Meeting in Lahore, six of the transport ministers agreed to launch an Almaty - Toshkent - Mashhad - ...